Dry spinning apparatus



y 1951 A. LODGE DRY SPINNING APPARATUS Filed May 21, 1946 n INVENTOR. ALVIN LODGE Patented May 8, 1951 Alvin Lodge, Detroit, Mich; assignor to American Viscose Corporation, -Wilming'ton, Del., a corporation of Delaware Application May 21, 1946, Serial No. 671,359

1 Claim. 2

This invention relates to apparatus for dry spinning of cellulose derivatives, vinyl resins, or other materials that can be melted or dissolved in a volatile solvent and extruded in fine streams into a cooling or an evaporative gaseous or vaporous medium, such as cold, warm or hot air, to form continuous filaments. The term dry spinning is herein intended in a generic sense to cover both melt-spinning and dry spinning of a solution in a volatile solvent.

In accordance with the present invention, an improved construction of dry spinning cell or cabinet is provided in which the spinning operation can be more readily tended or serviced. Other objects and advantages will appear from the drawing and the description thereof hereinafter, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the lower portion of the embodiment of Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is a section (similar to that of Figure 1) of a modification.

Figure 1 shows a vertical section through a single spinning cabinet of a group which may be arranged in a row extending behind the one shown in the direction of viewing it.

Each spinning unit or cell comprises a vertical tube 2 of any suitable cross-section, but preferably cylindrical. The tube is open at the bottom to receive a cooling or evaporative medium and has a conduit 3 for withdrawing the cooling or evaporative medium connected near the top but above the spinneret 4 positioned centrally within the upper region of the tube. A suitable suction pump or fan (not shown) may be connected to the discharge conduit 3.

The spinning melt or solution is introduced to the spinneret 4 through the conduit 5, and then through a candle filter l.

The main body of the tube 2 which is preferably cylindrical is surrounded by a heat-insulating jacket 9 and if desired cooling or heating means may be provided either in the tube or between it and the jacket at any height of the tube in conventional fashion. For example, a coil 90, in jacket 9 may be continuously supplied with a chilled brine, hot water or steam. The lower end of the tube 2 projects into an end chamber II] which has a sloped-bottom wall l I provided with an opening H2. The end chamber I may extend the length of the machine comprising a row of spinning cells or units, or vertical partitions may be provided to isolate the end chamber of each cell from those of adjacent cells. The walls of chamber it are made of materials which are poor conductors of heat so that when hot evaporative media are used, the operator will not be burned upon touching the walls of the chamber. The opening 12 is preferably of ample size to permit the insertion of the hand so that an operator can reach into the chamber to seize the material falling into the chamber It. A door I3 hinged at I4 is arranged to cover the opening i2 except for a small portion thereof in registry with the upper end of a slot IS in door l3 thereby constituting an effective small-sized discharge orifice through which the filaments may pass during normal operation of the unit. The slot [5 extends through the bottom of door l3 so that after an operator in front of the spinning cell has grabbed the filament mass within chamber .1 B through the open door, he can lace up the delivery roll or godet l6 and the takeup device El and then close the door l3 without interfering with the continuous discharge of the filaments from the chamber ill. Preferably the door has a bossed portion I311 which in the closed position fills the opening [2 and has an inside surface flush with the inside surface of wall H.

A conduit I8 is provided for introducing the cooling or evaporative medium into the machine. This conduit communicates with an upper region of the chamber Ill; advantageously it may communicate with a region largely above the lower edge of the tube 2 so that the medium it introduces is caused to better distribute itself around the periphery of the base of the tube before it enters. Because of this distribution, the medium is forced to flow relatively uniformly under the lower edge of the tube as it enters, thereby obtaining uniform effect upon the filaments and minimizing turbulence as it passes upwardly through the tube. The conduit may be connected to the front of chamber Ill instead of the back as shown.

The lateral wall IQ of chamber II! is provided with openings at the bottom which are normally covered by doors 2B which may be hinged at 2|. Any waste material from a given tube 2 that is not drawn through the orifice l2a slides down to the corner of the chamber I ll behind the associated door 20. This permits the material to be gathered out of the way of the line of spinning in a portion of chamber HJ offset from the tube 2 from which it may at any convenient subsequent time be removed by the operator merely by opening door 28. Such removal does not interfere with the spinning operation since it does not involve transfer past the line of spinning.

Suitable clamps or hooks 22 and 23 may be provided to hold doors I3 and 20 respectively in closed positions.

If desired, the lower edge of openings 12 and l2a may be a little higher along the sloped wall I I than the position to which the material coming from the spinneret 4 would normally fall. In general, however, this feature is not essential since the material that normally falls prior to lacing through orifice [2a to delivery roll I6 is waited aside and away from the orifice [2a by the turbulence of air currents in the cell and is bunched up in the lower corner of chamber II].

If desired, an additional godet may be provided between godet l6 and take-up I! to stretch the filaments prior to collection. A coating device comprising a grooved roll 24 may be disposed in advance of the godet It as shown or beyond it, if desired. It may be used to apply a lubricating or a conditioning liquid medium to the filaments.

Figure 3 shows a modification in which the lubricant-applying device 24 and delivery roll l6 are arranged so that lateral wall l9, which constituted the back wall in the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2, is the front wall of the spinning machine. In this embodiment it is preferable for the sake of head room, to provide the cooling or evaporative medium supply manifold and branch conduits 18 at the rear of the machine.

Any suitable cooling or evaporative medium, such as cold, warm or hot air may be introduced into the cells by the conduits I8. If desired this medium may be provided with small proportions of the solvent, such as acetone, used for making the spinning solution. The cooling or evaporative medium may be cooled or heated before it enters the conduits l8 by any suitable means which may advantageously be positioned near the spinning cells. A manifold or distributor may run the length of the row of spinning cells for feeding the conduits l8 connecting it thereto and two rows of spinning cells may be positioned back-toback or face-to-face with the manifold extending therebetween. When the conduits l8 enter the lateral Wall containing doors 20, it is desirable that the manifold serving conduits l8 be sufficiently high above the floor level to provide head room for operators when they wish to remove waste material through door 20.

It is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined b the claim herein.

I claim:

Dry spinning apparatus comprising a vertical tube, a spinneret in an upper region of the tube, an end chamber at the bottom of the tube, said end chamber having a back wall and a bottom wall steeply sloped down to the back wall, said bottom wall having an opening therein through which filaments may pass during operation, said tube extending downwardly into the upper region of the end chamber, a conduit opening into the upper region of the chamber above the lower edge of the tube and a second conduit opening into an upper region of the tube for conducting a gaseous medium through the tube, and a door at the bottom of the back wall.

ALVIN LODGE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,994,566 Butler Mar. 19, 1935 2,161,354 Imray et a1 June 6, 1939 2,217,707 Samerdyke et al. Oct. 15, 1940 2,252,684 Babcock Aug. 19, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 611,858 Germany Jan. 1, 1930 

